Today

Yesterday is gone, tomorrow has not yet come.  We have only today.  Let us begin. ~ Teresa of Calcutta

Sometimes I wake up and realize…my room is too big.  There should be at least 2 or 3 or 5 other women living in my bedroom with me (probably Canadian or German or British or Dutch), and they’re not there.    There are no drums calling me from my office to come and dance, no brown children to borrow, and no one understands my Krio.  Also, my magnetic poetry won't stick to the walls.  Somewhere here in the last two months my life changed drastically.

It is strange to think that my ship has sailed, wards are being stripped and waxed and bleached and new nurses are being trained, that surgical screenings will be in a week or so and I won’t be there to welcome the faces of poverty and of hope.  Mercy Ships was my yesterday, and a wonderful yesterday it was.  Those responsibilities are someone else’s today.

Let me share my today with you.   

Today I get to welcome students, and share what it means to be a nurse who loves Christ.  Today I teach injection technique and cardiac assessment and med-surg clinicals.  Today I am here to encourage the heart and vision of our calling to care with tomorrow’s professionals.  Today I am a clinical instructor at Roberts Wesleyan College.

Today I am making yogurt and kneading bread.  Today I am sanding crates to make bookshelves, and decorating my apartment with fresh flowers in canning jars and wildly African curtains.  Today I am taking a walk with a friend, or driving to meet them for coffee.  Today I am attending a new church.  Today I am exploring a new home.

Today I have articles to read and papers to write and classes to attend.  Today I am a graduate student.

I don’t know what my tomorrows will hold.   None of us can. But I can wholly trust the One who does.

We have only today.  Let us begin.